T-Mobile USA on Wednesday said it will expand its home-phone replacement
service as it looks to turn up the pressure on landline carriers.

The nations fourth-largest wireless carrier launched &quot@ Home&quot in two markets in
late February as a cheap alternative: $10 a month on top of a T-Mobile wireless
plan. It will launch the service nationwide in July. T-Mobile, a unit of
Deutsche Telekom AG (DT), hopes the service will encourage consumers to &quotcut the
cord&quot with their traditional service providers.

&quotIts a landline replacement play for our customers,&quot said Joe Sims, the general
manager and vice president of T-Mobile.

The trials in Dallas and Seattle were successful, according to Sims, who said
that more consumers were willing to recommend the service than any of its other
products. Nearly all the customers - 97% - cancelled their home phone service
after using @ Home.

T-Mobile is targeting families not yet willing to give up their central &quothub&quot or
phone line and go completely wireless, Sims said.

The service requires a $50 router that customers can plug any phone into. The
router sends the phone call back to the network through the customers normal
Internet access. The router itself has Wi-Fi capabilities, allowing it to work
with T-Mobiles Hotspot @Home service. Under the service, subscribers with
special phones can switch between the cellular and Wi-Fi networks.

The added Wi-Fi capability is part of the wider use of Wi-Fi among carriers.
T-Mobile has been aggressively pushing the technology, which includes dual-band
phones, but it isnt the only one. AT&ampT Inc. (T) offers free and pay Wi-Fi
service through Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) locations, and considers it one leg of
its service portfolio.